Post by Pathfinder on Sept 19, 2022 8:43:04 GMT
A certain dervish asked Majnun: “Son, how old art thou now?”
That distraught one answered: “My age is a thousand and forty years.”
The dervish said: “What sayest thou, O thoughtless one? Art thou become still madder, O ignoramus?”
Majnun replied: “There was once a supreme moment when Laila showed me her face.
I have lived forty years, and all of this is loss, but that moment is equal to a thousand years.
Since during those forty years I was by myself I was poor in the coin of my life.
But that one moment was equal to a thousand years, for together with Laila I had time without measure.” —
There thousands of years are but a moment, nay they are less than a moment there.
When both worlds attain to the endless Being, non-existence remains their province.
See, O friend, what a Being this is, before which each individual atom prostrates itself!
That is a Being which became neither more nor less; in it all things will cease to exist.
How lofty a Being in which all these things will vanish with feelings of Joy!
When a man becomes non-existent there, all his loss becomes profit there.
If the whole world stretch out their hands not one will reach the hem of his garment.
Since this person is not nor the hem of his garment, who shall ever lay hold thereof?
...One day Majnun was seated in happy mood in front of an inn.
There was a plastered wall on which Laila and Majnun were depicted sitting together.
A man cried out: “If I have slaved for a lifetime at last I have achieved my heart’s desire.
I am dreaming perhaps to see Laila and Majnun sitting together.
Who has ever seen these two together? O God, who in all the world has beheld this glory?”
When Majnun heard the man utter these words and perceived the painful state of his heart,
He uttered a cry and said: “This is no mistake, for Laila has never been parted from Majnun for a single moment.
The foundations of the union between us were firmly laid before the creation of the two worlds.”
...A friend, in friendly conversation, said to Majnun: “How much dost thou love Laila?”
He answered: “By the Lord of the empyrean and the firmament, I do not love her. Why dost thou ask?”
Said his friend: “But composing all these verses, remaining without food and sleep night and day,
Lying thus wretchedly amidst dust and blood— what is all this if not from love?”
Majnun replied: “That is now over, for Majnun is now Laila and Laila Majnun.
Duality has disappeared; all is now Laila and Majnun is no more.
Like milk and wine they have dissolved into each other; they have escaped the taint of duality.
Since unity has manifested itself here there is no longer room for duality.” —
If thou wouldst give thy soul for Him, go, lose thyself and He will appear.
Lose thyself in such manner that thou shalt not find thyself again in this life.
— Attar of Nishapur, Ilāhī-Nāma
That distraught one answered: “My age is a thousand and forty years.”
The dervish said: “What sayest thou, O thoughtless one? Art thou become still madder, O ignoramus?”
Majnun replied: “There was once a supreme moment when Laila showed me her face.
I have lived forty years, and all of this is loss, but that moment is equal to a thousand years.
Since during those forty years I was by myself I was poor in the coin of my life.
But that one moment was equal to a thousand years, for together with Laila I had time without measure.” —
There thousands of years are but a moment, nay they are less than a moment there.
When both worlds attain to the endless Being, non-existence remains their province.
See, O friend, what a Being this is, before which each individual atom prostrates itself!
That is a Being which became neither more nor less; in it all things will cease to exist.
How lofty a Being in which all these things will vanish with feelings of Joy!
When a man becomes non-existent there, all his loss becomes profit there.
If the whole world stretch out their hands not one will reach the hem of his garment.
Since this person is not nor the hem of his garment, who shall ever lay hold thereof?
...One day Majnun was seated in happy mood in front of an inn.
There was a plastered wall on which Laila and Majnun were depicted sitting together.
A man cried out: “If I have slaved for a lifetime at last I have achieved my heart’s desire.
I am dreaming perhaps to see Laila and Majnun sitting together.
Who has ever seen these two together? O God, who in all the world has beheld this glory?”
When Majnun heard the man utter these words and perceived the painful state of his heart,
He uttered a cry and said: “This is no mistake, for Laila has never been parted from Majnun for a single moment.
The foundations of the union between us were firmly laid before the creation of the two worlds.”
...A friend, in friendly conversation, said to Majnun: “How much dost thou love Laila?”
He answered: “By the Lord of the empyrean and the firmament, I do not love her. Why dost thou ask?”
Said his friend: “But composing all these verses, remaining without food and sleep night and day,
Lying thus wretchedly amidst dust and blood— what is all this if not from love?”
Majnun replied: “That is now over, for Majnun is now Laila and Laila Majnun.
Duality has disappeared; all is now Laila and Majnun is no more.
Like milk and wine they have dissolved into each other; they have escaped the taint of duality.
Since unity has manifested itself here there is no longer room for duality.” —
If thou wouldst give thy soul for Him, go, lose thyself and He will appear.
Lose thyself in such manner that thou shalt not find thyself again in this life.
— Attar of Nishapur, Ilāhī-Nāma